Why Spotify Will Ultimately Fail
Why Hacker News recommends it
Commenters recommend it as an artist's informed explanation of streaming economics and why Spotify pays so little compared with alternatives like Bandcamp.
What it is
Benn Jordan argues that Spotify's business model undermines the music it sells, using streaming payout figures and the economics for artists and labels.
Recommended by 3 HN commenters across 3 different months, 2023 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Recommends consumer451 · 2023-01 · on “Spotify is first music streaming service to surpass 200M paid subscribers”
Benn Jordan, aka The Flashbulb, made a recent video titled: "Why Spotify Will Ultimately Fail" (Because they are screwing artists, on whom they depend to generate streamable content.) As an example, he made 3x on Bandcamp vs Spotify for the same album. [this video]
Recommends jasode · 2023-08 · on “Ask HN: What are the economics of a streaming based record label?”
This 17 minute video has a few streaming numbers: [this video] I don't agree with all his predictions and conclusions but you can watch it for the data and see if it applies to your business plans.
Recommends thomastjeffery · 2023-12 · on “Spotify cuts almost 1,600 jobs amid rising costs”
The magic word is "growth". For context, I find this artist's explanation of the situation helpful: [this video]
Cites S_A_P · 2023-01 · on “Spotify is first music streaming service to surpass 200M paid subscribers”
I don’t use Apple Music on windows so can’t argue with the bad client experience, but Spotify isn’t exactly perfect either. To me the issue with iTunes and Spotify is the fact that to be a viable business the streaming model is going to squeeze all artists into making a between 1-2 grand for a million streams if they are that lucky. Tidal promises more money but once the realize those economics don’t work and get large enough they will follow suit. What has happened is also an unprecedented breach of contract for older artists out there without streaming provisions in their contracts. I only know of a handful of instances where the artists have addressed this but I know of at least 1 example
Cites konart · 2023-12 · on “Spotify cuts almost 1,600 jobs amid rising costs”
[this video] For those against clicking: 00:00:00 - 00:15:00 The author of the video argues that Spotify will ultimately fail due to the high cost of membership, the fact that streaming services pay independent musicians less than traditional music platforms, and the company's neglect of its only asset - its artists. 00:00:00 The author of the video argues that Spotify will ultimately fail because of the high cost of membership and the fact that streaming services pay independent musicians less than traditional music platforms. 00:05:00 The author of the video makes the case that Spotify will eventually fail because of its business model, which relies on rapid growth and unsustainable levels of v
Cites brink · 2024-06 · on “Spotify is increasing US prices again”
> “So that we can continue to invest in and innovate on our product features and bring users the best experience, we occasionally update our prices,” I don't care about your innovation. I haven't cared about a single new feature that's come out from Spotify in the last 5-7 years. I find myself listening to Spotify less than ever these days anyway. These prices are too much for me, so after ~10 years of premium Spotify, I'll be cancelling this month because I'm not getting enough value. I'll find other avenues of discovering new music. Benn Jordan predicted the demise of Spotify last year, and I'm starting to believe he might be right. [this video]